Practical Presets

Presets are great for a number of reasons. Easy to get a look, Easy to preview using the Navigator, and repeatable would be high on the list. It's wonderful to get a look and save it as a preset. But sometimes, you apply that to another image and.. Ugh.. it's terrible. Why?
Well if you did a lot of work to get to that point, the base settings may be too much for an ordinary image.

For presets to be universally good, there are some basic things we need to understand. First off, presets for Raw and JPEG/TIFF that use all the settings need to be different. Lightroom applies +50 Brightness and +25 Contrast to Raw files by default, while JPEG/TIFF is left at 0. This makes a big difference in the look, requiring different presets. There is another option of course, and one that I think is the universal way to approach preset creation.

For every look you want to create repeatably, start work on an image with the exposure and colour corrected. When you want to save the preset, only save the the settings that create the look, but not the settings that fix the exposure and colour. For example, let's say I add +0.5 stops to my exposure and then take 500 degress off my temperature to correct an image. I then do some split toning and add a tone curve to create a cross processed look. If I then save this as a preset with all settings on, and then apply it to an image that is corrected take, then the look will be brighter and cooler than wanted. So instead I save the preset with Split Toning and Tone Curve only selected. This means the look can be created independently of the original images exposure issues.

For ease in finding the correct exposure, make a folder of presets that have different exposure levels in 1/3 stop increments. When you save these presets, make sure only Exposure is ticked in the New Develop Preset box. This way you can simply hover over the exposure presets in the left panel and see which one looks correct for the image via the preview in the Navigator.

Only choose the necessary setting when creating the preset

This can also be done for White Balance Temperature, allowing you to get a rough White Balance visually (assuming you haven't used a colour chart or gray card).

A final option is to have a series of contrast curves saved with only Tone Curve selected when saving. This method of building up looks means you can quickly find a combination of presets to give you a final look for your image in Lightroom.

Top 5 posts of 2009

Everyone seems to be doing top posts lists. Normally I wouldn't, but it was interesting looking at the most popular posts this year. In no particular order:

1. Using Lightroom for your iPhone photos


2. Alphabetic Lightroom


3. Things I like in Beta 3
4. An Introduction to Lightroom Plugins
5. Creating a background image grid


And a bonus, but more infamous popular post

6. My April Fools video post

The 5th one doesn't rank high from comments, but was popular on twitter.

Anyhow, Happy New Year to all and may 2010 turn the tide on bad fortunes everywhere.

Photo Training 4 U

Some of you may have noticed the Photo Training 4 U link in the recommended section.. Well that's there because I'm creating exclusive content for them about Lightroom. The site covers a range of photo training topics, like Portraits, Business, Photoshop etc. Andy Rouse, the wildlife photographer I interviewed a while back for Lightroom News, is also on board with Wildlife training. There is a Free View section where you can also look at certain movies for free.

Using Lightroom for your iPhone Photos

The new Publish option in Lightroom 3 Beta allows you a handy way to control what photos are on your iPhone without iPhoto. Fortunately iTunes allows you to select a folder that will sync to the iPhone instead.

First up, create a folder called iPhone on your hard drive. Next, in Lightroom 3 Beta's Library Module, go to the Publish Services section on the bottom of the left panel. Click on the '+' beside 'Publish Services' and choose 'Manage Publish Connections'. This opens a dialog box that's remarkably similar to Export.

The left hand side has 2 panels, Connections and Post Process Actions. Click 'Add' at the bottom of Connections. In the Dialog box that pops up, choose 'Hard Drive' from Via Service. Next name the Connection 'iPhone'. Click Create.

Now go through the settings. For Export Location, go to the folder 'iPhone' that you created at the start. Don't tick a Subfolder. For the settings I recommend Jpeg, sRGB, Quality 75, 960px long edge (to allow zooming in on the iPhone), 72ppi, Sharpen for Screen. I've added a Watermark, that up to you, if you want one. Once the settings are done, click Save. You'll now see a new Bar in Publish: 'Hard Drive:iPhone'.

Right Click on this and choose 'Create Published Folder' to add a folder to this. Each folder will be a selectable album that you can transfer in iTunes. Repeat for all the different albums you want.

Add files to the Published Folders and then click on the folder and click the Publish button (it replaces Export). You'll need to do this for each folder.

Now connect your iPhone. In iTunes, click on your iPhone Icon and then go to the Photos tab. Click on the 'Sync photos from' flyout menu. Click 'Choose Folder..' and then navigate to your iPhone folder and click 'Open'. If you want to pick and choose folders, click 'Selected Folders'.

Finally click Apply. You can now control the photos on the iPhone from Lightroom.

By looking at the iPhone Publish Service, you can see at a glance what's on your iPhone. If you edit the photos, you can then republish and update the iPhone. Same for adding more photos, republish and sync to keep the iPhone photos the same.

All text and and images ©2009 Sean McCormack. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be reproduced without permission.

Old as new tutorials

Lots of time can pass, but old articles can have new life for new users. Here's a few past posts on different topics:

How to use Keywords Sets in Lightroom.

How to create a Grid Background for Twitter.

How to make a Camera Profile for IR cameras.

How to speed up Basic in Develop, making for a faster workflow.

Why Lightroom appears to change photos after import and what you can do about it.

Creating a Background grid with Lightroom

Here's a little tutorial on creating a 5X5 grid of images to use as a background on Twitter or MySpace, etc.

Creating an IR Camera Profile

Hi Folks,
I did a version of this video a while ago, but never published it properly. After going through a series of Screen Capture applications, I'm now mixing Screenflow with Stomp to give you these, hopefully, improved videos with zooming and panning.

This video covers the creation of a camera profile for my Infrared Camera, a converted Canon 400D. The conversion was done by Advanced Camera Services in the UK (they also do it for Europe), but Life Pixel do it in the US.

Now, I'm still getting used to Screenflow, and I will improve the audio further (it's still better than a lot of videos I see online), so bear with me. The intro was done with the 5D Mark II, so try not to laugh too hard.

Addendum: I said color calibration when I meant white balance as I hovered over the WB slider in the DNG profile editor. Also you can get the Matt Dawson script I mentioned from his site, The Photo Geek.

Branding Lightroom with the Identity Plate

Here's a short video on how to set up the Identity Plate. Covering both text and graphical identity plates. The movie is in Apple Quicktime format.

A collection of older videos is available via the Lightroom Blog videos page.

Why LR changes the settings of raw pics on import.

It's probably time to jump in on some of the suggestions you've been posting in the Skribit box. This one is an easy one to explain, but I'm not sure how satisfied people will be with the answer.

When you first view a Raw file in Lightroom, you are looking a camera rendered preview of the file, embedded in the file. This embedded Jpeg is what you see on the camera LCD as you shoot. Because it's a rendered Jpeg, it has all the camera settings like saturation, contrast, picture style/mode, etc applied to it.

The Raw file itself however has no inherent settings and is actually a pretty dull and lifeless looking file. So when you import a Raw, the preview goes from this rendered Jpeg to a preview based on whatever Develop settings you've chosen in the Import Dialog. Quite a lot of people choose the default rendering, which adds a small bit of brightness and contrast, but little else. This has the apparent effect of going from a pretty file to a dull file as the preview is created. Lightroom isn't actually throwing away settings, but it's hard to shake that feeling.

Fortunately there is a way around this. First and foremost, Lightroom 2.2 added the new Camera Profiles to the installer, meaning you can choose a setting to emulate your camera picture style/mode. Go to Develop and then click on the last panel on the right. This is the Camera Calibration panel. The first section is the Profile section.

From here look through the options, like Camera Landscape or Camera Vivid and find one that suits your photo style. Next add contrast and saturation using Basic or Tone Curve. Finally, hold down the Alt Key (Option key on Mac). The Reset Button on the bottom right of the right panel will change to Set Default... Click this button and then in the following dialog choose 'Update to Current Settings'. As you can see in the dialog this creates a settings for the camera that the shot was captured with. Repeat to get your preferred default for all your cameras.


If you feel the settings aren't working out, you can use the other option in the menu to restore the Adobe default settings, then start from scratch.

Once you've customised the settings in this way, they will be applied on Import for that camera, until you change or reset them.

Tuesday speedlinks

David Ziser has a cool video on mixing Light and Lightroom for killer images.

Matt Kloskowski has a video interview with Scott Kelby about his new Lightroom book.

Keeping the Inside Lightroom blog alive, Michael Clarke has a excerpt from one of his newsletters for us to read.

Yanik Chauvin has an Adjustment Brush video to view on Vimeo (my preferred video upload site!)

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques, Free Chapter

Peachpit have a free chapter from Chris Orwigs book Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques. It's a tutorial on using the Adjustment Brush. I'm happy to see this out there now, as I was tech editor on this book. Chris is an excellent writer, with an easy to read style. He manages to make difficult things easy to understand and provides solid examples with his tips. I've said before that I learned a bit from the process myself, but equally so a whole bunch of my own tips were written in also. I know there's going to be an overflow of Lightroom 2 books out there (my own included), but if you're looking beyond the big 2, this is well worth a read. I may as well mention the Elephant in the room. Any book that comes out now will be compared to both the Martin Evening and Scott Kelby Lightroom 2 books. Both are available to order right now, with Martin's already published. I think Chris's book is a different focus but very useful.

Update: My copy arrived in the post yesterday... Nice to see my name inside! And Chris made a nice comment in the acknowledgments

Managing CMYK in Lightroom 2.0

Lightroom 2.0 (and 1.x) has no official support for CMYK files. Alot of people are not happy about it too. However Ian Lyons has detailed a workaround which allows you to manage and even edit CMYK files in Lightroom 2.0. The major limitation is that you can't export these files, but you can open them in Photoshop.
Check out his rather innovative workaround over at Computer-Darkroom.com

SWPP: Professional Imagemaker

All of you SWPP members should check out the new issue of Professional Imagemaker magazine. It just came in the door and I notice they printed my Lightroom Develop article! It covers the beta and includes sections on skin retouching, negative clarity and and spot removal, as well as fixing underexposure etc. It begins on page 78.

I wrote this not long after the beta came out, but I wasn't sure when it would be published. Again if you do read it, feel free to leave comments here! You can see a web version here:
http://swpp.co.uk/pi-june-2008/index.htm, but it's quite small.

NAPP Releases Lightroom 2.0 Beta Learning Center

Scott Kelby has announced the launch of the NAPP Releases Lightroom 2.0 Beta Learning Center

NAPP has just released a free Lightroom 2.0 Public Beta learning center, with loads of videos. Scott presents along with Matt Kloskowski. Hop along for a look.

Here’s the link to NAPP’s Lightroom Learning Center.

(Via Photoshop Insider.)

Catalog Backup in Lightroom

I have spoken about ideas for easier backup in the past, but I'm just going to give some detail on the automatic backup feature within Lightroom. To set up Backup in Lightroom, we need to open the Catalog Settings. This is located in the File Menu and can be accessed by using the shortcut Command-Option-, (Ctrl-Alt-, On PC).

Fig 1. The Catalog Settings command.

Once this has opened, go to the Backup section of the General Tab. Clicking on the drop down menu reveals the frequency of which you can backup: Never, Monthly, Weekly, Daily, every restart or just the next restart.

Figure 2. The Catalog Settings Dialog.

Figure 3. The Backup Options in Catalog Settings.

For this part of our example I selected 'Next time Lightroom starts only'. The Dialog in Fig. 4 appears when I restart Lightroom. A little trick to make the restart easier is to go to File>Open Recent and then click on the name of the CURRENT catalog. This will restart Lightroom with the same catalog we're working on.

Figure 4. The Back Up Catalog Dialog.

Looking at Fig 4., we can see 3 buttons and a check box. We can either Skip Now or Backup. We can also check the box to test catalog integrity before backup, which is wise, as a broken backup file is useless. The last button is the Choose button (See Fig 5). This allows us to select the location to which the backup Catalog is written. I recommend an external drive at minimum. If you do select an external drive and it is unavailable at backup time, Lightroom will write to the default Backups folder inside the folder where the Catalog resides.

Figure 5. The Choose button allows you to select the backup location.

If you choose a repeated option, then a fourth button appears, allowing you to skip this backup, but allow further backups to continue as normal. See the images below for a screen capture of the other available options in Backup.

Figure 6. The Weekly Back Up Catalog Dialog

Figure 7. The Monthly Back Up Catalog Dialog

Figure 8. The Daily Backup Dialog

Figure 9. The Everytime Option Dialog

When you've allowed a few backups to happen, you'll start to notice something about catalog files, especially if you have a large photo library. They can get quite big. My main Catalog file is 1.1 Gb for 70,000 photos. When you've a few backups done, I recommend you delete older ones that are no longer necessary. Also you can use either the system archiver on Mac, or Winzip on PC to compress the file down in size. The file is full of text and compresses down significantly. For example my 1.1Gb file compresses to 140Mb. Quite a difference!

Personally I have the automatic backup set to Weekly, but I do backups after major imports/edit sessions, just to be safe.

Video: Creating Text slides for Slideshow in Lightroom

The normal route to making text slides is by creating them in Photoshop or another similar program. Here's a little workaround video to getting them in Lightroom directly. For a black background to the text slides, simply take a photo with your lens cap on. For other styles, you could use a photo of a solid colour or texture.
In the Video I use Job Identifier as the holder for the text in the Slides, but you can use anything that is not used by the images in the slideshow. Make sure the text box you use in the Slideshow setup matches whatever metadata you choose.
The video is in .m4v iPod Video format so Right Click the link to download it. I haven't done a video for a while, so excuse any mistakes!

Offline Media

Lightroom photos can inhabit any drive they like, internal or external. The beauty of it is that unlike browser based photo editor/managers, Lightroom allows you to access your files when the external drives are disconnected. This is because of the database that is the heart of Lightroom. Offline drives and folders appear in red in the Folders Pane. If you have used Render Standard Previews on import or from the menu prior to disconnecting, you will also be able to work with a screen sized version of your offline image. If you have rendered 1:1 previews, it is even possible to get large size prints, using draft mode printing. Mac users can even recreate the missing image by using Preview from the Print driver to print to a new file. You can create virtual copies, add to collections and change keywords and metadata while the file is offline. One thing you cannot do though is actually edit the file. Develop creates a new preview when you change the settings and needs the original file.
This leads to one slow part of Lightroom. When you reconnect the drive to start editing, Lightroom takes a finite amount of time to check the drive when it comes online. A quick way to speed this along is a little unothodox: Restart Lightroom after you plug the drive in and it will find the drive much quicker.

Cool tools: Export Presets.

I know I've done tips on using and creating Export Presets, but I'm finding them handy for so much. Using them in combination with droplets from my FTP program Transmit means that with one click I can upload images to this blog, my other blog, my photoblog, for competition.. the list goes on. It's getting to the point where I might need folders for the different export presets!

For non Transmit users, I feel Adobe would really push exports presets much further by allowing the internal FTP module to be accessible from inside the Post Processing section of Export.

Making and Using Borders in the Print Module.

As we were painfully aware throughout the Beta cycle, there was no way to add borders or frames to our precious prints in Lightroom, bar a 20 pt stroke. Well through the genius of Andreas Norén, we have found and tested a way. Sid Jervis up at Lightroom Extra has detailed one way of doing it. Here I present a way to do it in Print, without affecting your current ID Plate (that's the clue!). I'm also including my frame for you to test this.

But what about the 60px limit on Graphical ID Plates, I hear you ask? Well this is not an image limit, it a size limit based on the height of the ID Plate in the Module picker. Bigger than this and the ID Plate will not fit. But as we're not using it this way, the size doesn't matter.

Side note: I edited this in Garageband, but it threw a hissy fit so I've left in my patented 'Okays' and left out the new little jingle I wrote :(.
Update: I managed to figure a way to get rid of most of them, but no new jingle :)